Family of Newark shooting victim pleads for witnesses to have courage

NEWARK -- A mother's tears for her only son, his sisters' anger at a neighborhood gone silent, an educator's memories of a basketball titan who was dutiful in the classroom, and children coming to terms with their father being gone forever converged on a Newark street today, a few feet from where Nyheem Ali Shiggs was killed last week.

The gathering under a bright sun on South 11th Street also included about 70 others who came to pray for one miracle -- a witness to come forward.

Steve Hockstein/For The Star-LedgerTyeisha Shiggs, sister of 25-year-old shooting victim Nyheem Ali Shiggs, grieves at a prayer vigil on the site at South 11th Street and Woodland Avenue in Newark where her brother was killed last week.

"My brother loved you all. It really makes no sense," said Shaeisha Shiggs, 27, one of Shiggs' five older sisters.

"I don't understand how he could just get killed and nobody knows nothing." she said, fueled by anguish and rage as she spoke. "I understand that no one talks to the cops, but this is really hard. That was my brother."

If anyone saw anything, they may be too afraid of retaliation to report it. Witness intimidation is a problem so large that the state Supreme Court in April urged lawmakers in Trenton to find a legislative remedy.

The Rev. Thomas Ellis, president of the anti-violence group Enough is Enough, said the point of Sunday's vigil -- arranged at the family's request -- was to take the appeal for information to the streets.

"This brother lost his life too soon," Ellis told the crowd. "I know that there's too many people who saw something that ain't saying something."

Shiggs, 25, a 6-foot, 7-inch man who helped lead West Side High School's basketball team to a 23-3 record in 2002, was shot several times late Tuesday night, according to his family.

He was found on South 11th Street just after 10 p.m. that night, Paul Loriquet, spokesman for the Essex County Prosecutor's Office, said last week. After receiving a call, police found Shiggs lying near a vehicle in the street. He was pronounced dead at the scene about a half-hour later.

According to court records, Shiggs pleaded guilty to a third-degree aggravated assault charge on May 29. He was scheduled to be sentenced by state Superior Court Judge Joseph Cassini on July 10. No other details about the case were available tonight.

Tyeisha Shiggs, 28, another sister, said she had seen her brother moments before the shooting as she drove past him. She shouted a greeting as he stood in the street. About eight people were standing on the sidewalk near the curb, which makes her suspicious that no one has come forward, she said.

Shortly after she arrived at her home on South Orange Avenue and 10th Street, Tyeisha Shiggs got word from her cousin that her brother has been shot.

"It had to happen right then. No one is saying anything," she said. "We just want to know."

Aljafiah Ashford, the mother of Shiggs' 6-year-old daughter and 3-year-old son, implored the crowd for someone to tell her details of the shooting so that she could pass them on to police.

"I've got to explain to my son that he ain't never, ever going to see his daddy again," Ashford said. The family's pleas were buttressed by community and religious leaders.

Newark Police Sgt. Ronald Glover, president of the African-American police organization The Bronze Shields, said the organization is offering a $1,000 reward for any information leading to an arrest. He also pledged to add $500 to the reward as long as he is president.

Kevin Muhammed, a Nation of Islam minister, said eradicating violence from the city was the community's responsibility.

Others offered street-side eulogies to the West Side High School basketball forward center who, in his senior year in 2002, made The Star-Ledger's second teams for all Essex County and for all group three schools.

Shelley Perkins, a Barringer High School vice principal, said she knew Shiggs from the 6th grade until he graduated high school.

"Not only did he work on the court, he worked at his schoolwork," Perkins said. "He earned his graduation."

Varetta Shiggs, the victim's mother, said after the vigil that she was optimistic a witness would come forward, especially after Ellis' appeals to the crowd.